Nov. 10, 2017: Game
Monarchs Run Game Halts Big Reds' Title Dreams
Game Statistics / Game Photos
John Marshall used a very effective ground game to hold off the big play Big Reds of Parkersburg and post a 42-35 victory Friday night at Stadium Field in the first round of the Class AAA playoffs.
The Monarchs turned loose a seldom-used fullback named Charles McCool for 249 yards and two touchdowns on the ground to end Parkersburg’s hopes of bringing home a state title for first year head coach Mike Byus.
McCool, who had barely been heard of before the playoff contest, ran behind some great blocking inside the tackles to account for over half of John Marshall’s 485 yards rushing. Nick Coulter, who had played second fiddle to the Monarch’s 1,000 yard rusher Dereck Hess, broke loose for 159 yards on 30 carries and scored three times as the visitors ran 91 offensive plays to just 40 for the Big Reds.
The Big Reds, who finish with a 7-4 record, had 380 yards in total offense and scored five touchdowns, four of them on passes from Kam Mace, who accounted for 325 yards through the air (the second highest single game total in school history). Mace completed 19 of 25 passes but suffered one interception.
Jake Johnson scored two touchdowns on pass receptions of 41 and 68 yards (finishing with 130 yards receiving) while Seth Dailey had a 29 yard scoring pass to go with a one yard end around run and Brenton Strange caught nine passes for 127 yards and one acrobatic TD catch in the end zone.
The Big Reds, who enjoyed a 30-13 advantage in takeaways during the regular season, also lost two fumbles while John Marshall had no turnovers.
PHS started the game in style, going 58 yards on seven plays to score in just 1:35 on Dailey’s one yard run around end. Two passes to Strange and one Nathan Steed accounted for 36 of those yards.
John Marshall proceeded to run 5:18 off the clock and cover 54 yards but was stopped on a fourth down play at the PHS 29.
Things still looked good for the Big Reds even though they had to punt on their next possession as Matt Curry boomed a 64 yarder all the way to the JM one yard line.
But then came a crushing drive that was a hint of things to come as the Monarchs went 99 yards on 25 plays and used 9:23 of the clock to score on a three yard run by Coulter. Three times they converted on fourth down, twice by simply running up the middle and the third time on a five yard pass when they needed four yards for a first down.
John Marshall then turned a Big Red fumble into a touchdown as PHS lost the ball on its first offensive play on the Big Red 45 yard line after a 16 yard run by Tyler Moler.
A personal foul penalty helped advance the ball to the 20 yard line and Coulter took it into the end zone from there to give the Monarchs the lead, 14-7.
Three plays later PHS coughed the ball up again but this time PHS held on a tackle by Johnson when JM went for it on fourth-and-six from the 33.
John Marshall took the second half kickoff and went 65 yards in seven plays with Hess going the final 20 yards to make it 21-7.
The Big Reds came back quickly; taking just 1:38 to score on a 41 yard pass which Johnson came back to catch and then sprinted through the defense to the end zone to make it 21-14.
John Marshall answered with a touchdown on an 18-yard run up the middle with 1:59 left in the third quarter to make it 28-14 but once again Johnson was there to come up with the answering TD just 19 seconds later.
Mace’s pass over the middle was first tipped by Johnson, and then tipped by a Monarch defender, with the ever alert Johnson snatching it out of the air and racing straight up the field for a 68 yard touchdown pass with 1:40 left in the third quarter. Christian Axman’s kick made it 28-21.
It looked like PHS was in position to tie the game after a Big Red defensive stop on fourth down got the home team the ball at midfield. But on the first play Mace was intercepted by Coulter, who returned the ball to the PHS 49.
On the very next play there was McCool again, crashing up the middle and going all the way to the end zone to make it 35-21 after the extra point.
Once again the Big Reds were able to answer and answer quickly as Mace completed five passes, the final one going 29 yards to Dailey for the touchdown with 9:02 left in the game to cut the margin to 35-28.
But the Monarchs applied what looked like the back-breaker to PHS as they drove 79 yards in 14 plays and ate 6:35 off the clock to score on a 10 yard run by Coulter with just 2:20 left in the contest. All 14 plays were on the ground and twice there were third down conversions when three and two yards were needed.
Now Trailing 42-28, the Big Reds took just 28 second to score after a 29 yard kickoff return by Dailey and a pass of 10 yards to Strange. Mace then appeared to be intercepted again but the play was nullified by a roughing the passer penalty and on the very next play he found a Strange in the corner of the end zone and the 6-foot-5 junior out-leaped two defenders to pull in the touchdown catch and make it 42-35 with 1:42 left to play.
The onside kick attempt failed and John Marshall was able to pick up one first down and run out the clock to keep the Big Reds from ending 10 years of playoff frustration.
The 8-3 Monarchs will now travel to Martinsburg next week (a 61-0 winner over Morgantown) to play the second-ranked, undefeated the defending state champion Bulldogs.
Wyatt Strobl led the PHS defense with 17 unofficial tackles while Zion Atkinson and Gage Fiore had 11 and 10 stops respectively.
#10 Monarchs vs #7 Big Reds (Nov 10, 2017 at Parkersburg)
Score by Quarters |
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
Total |
|
Monarchs |
|
|
0 |
14 |
14 |
14 |
42 |
|
Big Reds |
|
|
7 |
0 |
14 |
14 |
35 |
|
Qtr |
Time |
Scoring play |
|
|
|
|
|
|
1st |
10:25 |
PHS - Seth Dailey 1 yd run (Christian Axman kick), 7-58 1:35 |
2nd |
05:42 |
JM - Nick Coulter 3 yd run (Ethan Gray kick), 25-99 9:23 |
|
04:10 |
JM - Nick Coulter 20 yd run (Ethan Gray kick), 4-45 1:15 |
3rd |
09:13 |
JM - Dereck Hess 20 yd run (Ethan Gray kick), 7-65 2:47 |
|
07:30 |
PHS - Jake Johnson 41 yd pass from Kam Mace (Christian Axman kick), 6-74 1:38 |
|
01:59 |
JM - Charles McCool 18 yd run (Ethan Gray kick), 6-54 1:55 |
|
01:40 |
PHS - Jake Johnson 68 yd pass from Kam Mace (Christian Axman kick), 1-68 0:13 |
4th |
11:35 |
JM - Charles McCool 49 yd run (Ethan Gray kick), 1-49 0:10 |
|
09:02 |
PHS - Seth Dailey 29 yd pass from Kam Mace (Christian Axman kick), 7-65 2:28 |
|
02:20 |
JM - Nick Coulter 10 yd run (Ethan Gray kick), 14-79 6:35 |
|
01:42 |
PHS - Brenton Strange 14 yd pass from Kam Mace (Christian Axman kick), 4-50 0:28 |
|
JM |
PHS |
FIRST DOWNS |
35 |
16 |
RUSHES-YARDS (NET) |
87-485 |
15-55 |
PASSING YDS (NET) |
59 |
325 |
Passes Att-Comp-Int |
4-4-0 |
25-19-1 |
TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS |
91-544 |
40-380 |
Fumble Returns-Yards |
0-0 |
0-0 |
Punt Returns-Yards |
0-0 |
0-0 |
Kickoff Returns-Yards |
5-39 |
7-118 |
Interception Returns-Yards |
1-8 |
0-0 |
Punts (Number-Avg) |
1-24.0 |
3-42.3 |
Fumbles-Lost |
0-0 |
2-2 |
Penalties-Yards |
7-62 |
5-45 |
Possession Time |
35:47 |
12:13 |
Third-Down Conversions |
8 of 16 |
2 of 6 |
Fourth-Down Conversions |
4 of 7 |
0 of 0 |
Red-Zone Scores-Chances |
5-7 |
2-2 |
Sacks By: Number-Yards |
0-0 |
2-24 |
RUSHING: Monarchs-Charles McCool 32-249; Nick Coulter 30-159; Dereck Hess 7-40; Bailey Williams 4-19; Jordan Wood 13-13; John Santimarino 1-5. Big Reds-Tyler Moler 10-49; Kam Mace 4-5; Seth Dailey 1-1.
PASSING: Monarchs-Jordan Wood 4-4-0-59. Big Reds-Kam Mace 19-25-1-325.
RECEIVING: Monarchs-Ronnie Durrah 2-36; Adam Carpenter 1-18; Justin Fronapfel 1-5. Big Reds-Brenton Strange 9-127; Jake Johnson 5-130; Seth Dailey 2-40; Nathaniel Steed 2-16; Tyler Moler 1-12.
INTERCEPTIONS: Monarchs-Nick Coulter 1-8. Big Reds-None.
FUMBLES: Monarchs-None. Big Reds-Tyler Moler 1-1; Brenton Strange 1-1.
Monarchs (8-3) vs. Big Reds (7-4)
Date: Nov 10, 2017 • Site: Parkersburg • Stadium: Stadium Field
Attendance: 2800
Kickoff time: 7:30 • End of Game: 10:06 • Total elapsed time: 2:36 Temperature: 35
SACKS (UA-A): Monarchs-None. Big Reds-Brandon Braham 1-0; Nathaniel Steed 1-0.
